Which fbi agent caught al capone

A greater emphasis was placed on apprehending the major crime bosses and curtailing the power of organized crime syndicates in American cities. This task force was limited in its members and rarely had more than 11 men working on the team at once. Ness believed this small circle of investigators would remain free of the corruption that breached most the larger government agencies. The Untouchables conducted multiple public raids and alerted the media to them in order to increase the pressure on Capone.

Though Ness and his team compiled evidence of over 5, counts of bootlegging by Al Capone, the U. District Attorney George E. Johnson argued that a jury would not convict on these charges because prohibition was so unpopular.

Instead, the attorney, along with investigators for the IRS convicted Capone of tax evasion and sentenced him to 11 years in a federal prison. When prohibition ended in December , the nation did not have the infrastructure and politics to handle a legal liquor market. Large underground distilleries remained in business which also maintained the power of organized crime syndicates in major cities across the U.

He spearheaded campaigns to end corruption in the police force and quell gang violence. He also implemented programs to keep younger children out of gangs by building recreation centers and providing vocational training.

This method of law enforcement, communicating with the gangs and providing community support, later became a more widely practiced method of curtailing organized crime. As a result, Ness was initially celebrated in Cleveland for his ability to curb street violence and reform corruption in the government bureaucracies. However, his career stumbled with his handling of the Cleveland Torso Killer, also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, who murdered and dismembered 12 people in the s.

His actions were seen as unnecessarily cruel and the Torso Killer was never caught, but he did not strike again either. Ness moved to Cleveland with his then third wife Elisabeth Seaver where he worked in a federal agency which sought to decrease the amount of sexually transmitted diseases in the U.

Weeding out crooked police officers and bringing 15 other officials to trial for criminal behavior, Ness set many precedents.

One such milestone was Ness's efforts to correct Cleveland's traffic problems, establishing a separate court in which all traffic cases were heard. Ness attended the University of Chicago at 18 years of age, majoring in commerce, law and political science. He graduated in the top third of his class in and was hired as an investigator for the Retail Credit Company. He moved on to the Chicago branch of the U. Treasury Department in where he became an agent. Ness was transferred to the Justice Department in to work with the Prohibition Bureau, responsible for cleaning up the practice of bootlegging.

During the s, bootlegging grew into a multi-million dollar business for Chicago's gangsters. Working in Chicago's Justice Department, Ness received an assignment to serve with a special unit designed to bring down the notorious mobster Capone. The Italian gangster's reputation had even reached Washington, D. Heading the task force assigned to the Capone investigation, Ness and nine other agents successfully seized and halted operations of breweries run by Capone, one of Ness's most recognized achievements.

Capone was eventually sentenced to 11 years in prison. After the special force assigned to Capone was dissolved, Ness was chosen as the chief investigator of the Chicago Prohibition Bureau until the Prohibition era ended. From there, he moved to Cincinnati's Justice Department where he was responsible for locating and destroying moonshine operations in the hills and mountains of Ohio, Kentucky and parts of Tennessee. After several months, Ness landed a new job in December of as the investigator in charge of the Treasury Department's Alcoholic Tax Unit in northern Ohio.

At age 32, he was the youngest in Cleveland history to claim that title. Mayor Harold Hitz Burton, who appointed Ness, sought to establish a safe environment in Cleveland, a city which had become overloaded with crime and corruption. Along with 34 agents under him, he began efforts to clean up the city and its crooked policemen. Conducting most of the investigating himself, Ness gathered evidence of the criminal activity of various police officers and took this information before a grand jury in October Fifteen officials were brought to trial including a deputy inspector, two captains, two lieutenants and a sergeant.

Two hundred police officers were forced to turn in their resignations. Ness' greatest achievement was in traffic control. Cleveland was notorious at that time for being the second-worst American city in traffic-related deaths and injuries, with an average of deaths each year. Ness established a court designed for the sole purpose of handling traffic cases. He also implemented the process of immediate examination of suspected drunk drivers, automatic arrest of those found intoxicated, harsh consequences for officers found adjusting tickets and an automobile inspection program.

Advertisers: Contact Us. Privacy Policy. Article continues after advertisement. Edgar Hoover Max Allan Collins prohibition. Max Allan Collins and A. Previous Article True Story. What Should You Read Next? Just Because You're Paranoid Danielle Evans on Mrs. Find CrimeReads on Facebook. In , two events not only changed the course of Ness' career, but also redirected federal law enforcement's trajectory, in general, and ATF's legacy, in particular.

First, the Bureau of Prohibition was transferred from the U. Department of Treasury to the U. Department of Justice. The Bureau's mission increasingly focused on fighting violent crime. This dangerous new mission began to clash with the Treasury Department's responsibility since of ensuring tax compliance.

This burgeoning enemy and increasingly treacherous terrain necessitated a more effective and coordinated law enforcement strategy - Treasury Department no longer had the means to direct this new focus. The Justice Department was the organization better suited to lead the Bureau of Prohibition in the fight against organized crime. The second event, simultaneous with the first, was President Herbert Hoover's directive "to get Capone. Attorney, George E. Johnson's two-pronged investigative attack on Capone.

One effort, led by the Bureau of Prohibition Investigative Division's newly appointed Special Agent in Charge SAC Eliot Ness and his team of agents, who were ordered to disrupt Capone's operations and gather evidence of prohibition violations. The other, led by lawmen Elmer Irey and Frank Wilson of the Internal Revenue Service, investigated Capone's finances for evidence of money laundering and tax evasion.

Agent Ness' team of specially trained agents damaged the Capone organization's ability to carry out its illegal activities and ultimately led to the indictment of Capone on over 5, prohibition violations under the Volstead Act. That indictment was handed down 1 week after his indictment for tax evasion.